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The Copper Cliff Smelter Complex will be "offline" until at least May 19 while crews work to repair a chimney after a 60-foot extension of the 160-foot stack blew off overnight Friday and landed on the oxygen line leading to the nearby oxygen plant.

Vale Inco spokesman Steve Ball said people working in the complex Friday noticed the loose piece of the fluid bed dryer stack and plans were made to repair it the next day.

Ball said employees in the area were "immediately" moved out and the oxygen line was bled in case the chimney piece fell.

It did that night in the late-season storm that swept through the region.

Strikers on protests set up at Coleman Mine in Levack and at Clarabelle Mill were fuming Monday about the potential danger to the community had the oxygen line been running and been severed.

The Ministry of the Environment was called, said Ball.

Ball insisted the loose piece of chimney could have occurred during regular operations and has nothing to do with the fact the plant is being run by staff, managers, unionized office and technical staff and replacement workers.

The extension broke off where it was attached to the stack.

The chimney is located east of the main smelter building, adjacent to the Superstack.

Kate Jordan, spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Environment, said the ministry was contacted Friday about the loose extension and Vale Inco's plans to dismantle it in a contained manner.

The ministry was contacted again Saturday when the extension blew off overnight, Jordan said Monday.

She confirmed the oxygen line had been suspended, but it was damaged, said Jordan and the ministry was told it would take at least 10 days to repair it.

Vale Inco is conducting its own investigation, said Jordan, and the ministry will continue to have discussions with the mining company about the repair process. The ministry will be "involved and updated on a regular basis," she said.

No emissions were released from the fluid bed dryer stack or chimney, which was extended several years ago. That is because the baghouses the chimney is connected to were shutdown because of the loose piece, said Jordan.

Baghouses are used to prevent particles created by industrial process and work like vacuum cleaners.